Royal Caribbean should look at the CC homepage poll

[SICruiseGirlNYC]

They're just expressing their opinions on the matter.

 

Thanks. I was just expressing my concerns and opinions on the matter.

 

I'm on these and other boards enough to know that certain people try to stir the pot. I just try to ignore them. So many other more important things to worry about.

[interapid]

When they banned smoking where I work there were a lot of people who were flat out mad. Many retired. Guess what? The company never missed a beat. They soon replaced the retirees with new people who didn't smoke. All this chatter on here means nothing to RCI, they will do a study and if they can make $1 they will whack the smokers in a heartbeat. I personally hate smoke as I was forced to breath it as a kid. But I am tolerant of smokers because of how hard my Dad tried to stop. Never could. While it did not kill him it shortened his life. What really bothers me is young people smoking, especially girls. Things are getting better in the US on the smoking front though. Probably because the economy will limit the affordability of buts.

[FLACRUISER99]

I received an answer to my email to RCI today.

 

 

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

 

In regards to your email, we have not been advised of any changes being made to the smoking policy onboard any of the Royal Caribbean International ships.

Don't forget the folks that answer emails will probably be the last to know!:rolleyes:

[caribbean sailor]

I fear it is a money issue. RCI caters to many people in other countries, as well as those from the US. Many other countries don't view smoking as we in the US do. I won't allow anyone to smoke on my balcony, but that is my cabin and I am usually in a suite, but, I am only one out of many.

 

 

I would allow some one to smoke on my balcony.Being an x smoker I realize other people still smoke.I don't see how you can have a problem with smoke on a moving ship. ;) :)

[Cruising89143]

Last month on the Splendour our neighbor was a heavy smoker. Each evening when I was out on the balcony so were they and smoking. Same thing on our one and only sea day where I spent most of the day. The smoke bascially set there and the ship was moving. Did I complain? No as it's allowed but yes it can be bothersome which is one reason that Celebrity is now more of a choice over RCI.

 

I don't see RCI stopping smoking on the balconies. They have large ships to fill and just with the Oasis class alone market to many non U.S guests from areas where this is still a higher percentage of smokers than we experience in the U.S. I will be very surprised if the policy changes any time soon.

[Paul65]

I don't see how you can have a problem with smoke on a moving ship. ;) :)

 

Have you ever been on one of the balconies? It's nothing at all like being up on an open deck with 20 knot winds blowing on you. The balconies are somewhat protected from the wind, so the air in the balcony itself isn't moving all that much. And smoke can pretty easily drift from one balcony to the next.

 

Many people seem to be mystified by this, but it's not at all hard to understand. :cool:

[Ocean Boy]

Like. Never seen anyone on their balcony all day. In fact, most cruises, seems as if no one on their balcony same time as me.

 

These boards always amaze me. Someone is now monitoring balcony use by passengers.

[The Sunset Glow]

These boards always amaze me. Someone is now monitoring balcony use by passengers.

 

I would like to know how anyone can tell whether people are using their balconies or not. Unless you are looking around the partitions (which is an etiquette no-no:eek:) how do you know? By looking up and down the ship, unless people are standing at the rail, you can't see anyone anyway.:confused:

 

So how are the balcony monitors doing it?:rolleyes:

[WetToes]

Someone once posted that they would look for feet.

They wouldn't see mine once I was seated. I always have them on propped on the table.

[gaylemh]

It's August 1st, has anyone seen any official notice from Royal to this rumor?

[mistshar]

I would like to know how anyone can tell whether people are using their balconies or not. Unless you are looking around the partitions (which is an etiquette no-no:eek:) how do you know? By looking up and down the ship, unless people are standing at the rail, you can't see anyone anyway.:confused:

 

So how are the balcony monitors doing it?:rolleyes:

 

I normally hear them talking or their feet moving around. You can usually tell if someone is over there without looking around the partition. I don't care if people smoke on their balcony except I have heard that it is a safety issue. Also if the smoke drifts over to my balcony, it will trigger a migraine and I really don't like dealing with that when I am on a cruise. (Well, I don't like dealing with that anytime but especially on a cruise.) If you have never had a migraine, you have no idea how painful they are and how sick they can make you.

[z44212]

I personally hate smoke as I was forced to breath it as a kid. But I am tolerant of smokers because of how hard my Dad tried to stop. Never could. While it did not kill him it shortened his life.

 

Ditto, except that it did kill both my father and my mother. Growing up with smoking parents left me with permanent lung damage, too. I do my best to tolerate smoke, but I do not like it and will avoid it if possible.

[melbur]

Even if this announcement comes out today, they will likely do what both Celebrity and Princess did, give a 6 month window to the effective date.

[Ocean Boy]

I would like to know how anyone can tell whether people are using their balconies or not. Unless you are looking around the partitions (which is an etiquette no-no:eek:) how do you know? By looking up and down the ship, unless people are standing at the rail, you can't see anyone anyway.:confused:

 

So how are the balcony monitors doing it?:rolleyes:

 

They must have much more sophisticated methods that the dress code monitors and the ones watching for people removing tips from their seapass accounts at the customer service desk.

[2tall]

Someone once posted that they would look for feet.

They wouldn't see mine once I was seated. I always have them on propped on the table.

 

That was me, as weird as it sounds, but only to see if we need to refrain from smoking because balconies adjacent to ours were occupied. Since you pointed out that people might have them up, I'm not sure it was ever helpful for us to look and we probably won't in the future. Because it certainly felt sort of creepy doing it.

[rbell]

Have you ever been on one of the balconies? It's nothing at all like being up on an open deck with 20 knot winds blowing on you. The balconies are somewhat protected from the wind, so the air in the balcony itself isn't moving all that much. And smoke can pretty easily drift from one balcony to the next.

 

Many people seem to be mystified by this, but it's not at all hard to understand. :cool:

um wrong again:rolleyes:

[reedl]

I'm a little confused. What do you want the front desk to do? Smoking is allowed on balconies. Why would the front desk do something about behavior that is expressly permitted?

 

That was my point exactly. RCCL does not care about non smokers at all. There is no way to be guaranteed a smoke free environment when you have a balcony. Furthermore the enforcement of smoking in other parts of the ship is also very lax. I have seen many cruises with people walking all over the pool deck with a cancer stick in their mouth right in front of employees who are standing in front of no smoking signs.

 

They might say they are smoke free, but there are so many places to smoke on the ship it is for all intents and purposes a smoking ship outdoors.

[Paul65]

um wrong again:rolleyes:

 

What am I wrong about? I don't really feel a lot of wind, when I've been on a balcony, unless I'm leaning out over the railing. And the balconies are not sealed off air-tight from each other, so smoke definitely can drift from on to the next.

 

So, what part was wrong? The part about it being not hard to understand?

[reedl]

When they banned smoking where I work there were a lot of people who were flat out mad. Many retired. Guess what? The company never missed a beat. They soon replaced the retirees with new people who didn't smoke.

 

And it is perfectly legal to discriminate against smokers when hiring someone. I worked for a guy who was very anti smoking. He would not hire smokers as employees no matter how good they looked on paper or if they seemed perfect for the job. The constant trips outside to smoke right in the middle of trying to get work done pissed him off.

 

Everybody probably took the same amount of time off during the workday, but the smokers had to do it on a schedule to keep up the nicotine fix.

[reedl]

One more comment. Where I live in Massachusetts, every place I go is non-smoking. In fact smoking is not allowed within 25 feet of an entrance of a building (even though the inconsiderate smokers always seem to smoke there right in front of the sign but that is another topic..) Pretty much every place is non-smoking.

 

So I am not exposed to smoke in my daily life at all. When I book a hotel, it is non-smoking, and planes are non-smoking also. Pretty much every rental car company is also non-smoking and will charge you $250 if you smoke in the car.

 

So why do I need to be exposed to smoke when I am on my private balcony of my cabin that I have paid for?

 

If I was not trying to build up my level on RCCL to at least diamond, I would take Celebrity more since they do not allow smoking on balconies.

 

What RCCL should do is take a couple of rooms much like airports do, put exhaust fans in them to suck the air outside and make those the smoking rooms. If you want to smoke, go there, otherwise do not smoke. Then they can truly say the ships are non-smoking.

 

I have not been on the Allure yet (going in October), but it remains to be seen how good it is with half smoking and half non-smoking in the casino. Is it well ventilated? Do they enforce the non-smoking? I have known people who book non-smoking rooms and smoke in them because they do not want to be in a room that stinks like an ashtray. That is the ultimate in chutzpah in my book.

[Clarea]

...I have not been on the Allure yet (going in October), but it remains to be seen how good it is with half smoking and half non-smoking in the casino. Is it well ventilated? Do they enforce the non-smoking? I have known people who book non-smoking rooms and smoke in them because they do not want to be in a room that stinks like an ashtray. That is the ultimate in chutzpah in my book.

We were surprised when we went on Allure and found two venues allowed smoking on the Promenade. The pub and Boleros both allow smoking, and unfortunately the smoke spills out onto the Promenade.

[Ocean Boy]

We were surprised when we went on Allure and found two venues allowed smoking on the Promenade. The pub and Boleros both allow smoking, and unfortunately the smoke spills out onto the Promenade.

 

The pub on the Pormenade is our favorite evening hangout. Unfortunately, whether smoking is allowed or not seems to vary from ship to ship. On ships where it is allowed it becomes unusable for us. And, yes, it does come out onto the Promenade so the seating outside of the pub is just as unusable.

[Gonzo70]

RCI has an archaic, 20th Century smoking policy. They need significant changes in the very near future or they will lose out on a very large quantity of cruisers who refuse to be exposed to cigarette smoke. On Allure there are so many smoking areas (even some INDOOR areas) and many poorly laid out smoking areas (that impact nearby allegedly non-smoking venues) that many venues or either off limits or uncomfortable if you are sensitive to cigarette smoke and dislike the odor. I am done with RCI until they modernize their policy and cannot recommend RCI to non-smokers.

[Giorgi-one]

One more comment. Where I live in Massachusetts, every place I go is non-smoking. In fact smoking is not allowed within 25 feet of an entrance of a building (even though the inconsiderate smokers always seem to smoke there right in front of the sign but that is another topic..) Pretty much every place is non-smoking.

 

So I am not exposed to smoke in my daily life at all. When I book a hotel, it is non-smoking, and planes are non-smoking also. Pretty much every rental car company is also non-smoking and will charge you $250 if you smoke in the car.

 

So why do I need to be exposed to smoke when I am on my private balcony of my cabin that I have paid for?

 

If I was not trying to build up my level on RCCL to at least diamond, I would take Celebrity more since they do not allow smoking on balconies.

 

What RCCL should do is take a couple of rooms much like airports do, put exhaust fans in them to suck the air outside and make those the smoking rooms. If you want to smoke, go there, otherwise do not smoke. Then they can truly say the ships are non-smoking.

 

I have not been on the Allure yet (going in October), but it remains to be seen how good it is with half smoking and half non-smoking in the casino. Is it well ventilated? Do they enforce the non-smoking? I have known people who book non-smoking rooms and smoke in them because they do not want to be in a room that stinks like an ashtray. That is the ultimate in chutzpah in my book.

 

There is no way of getting away from second or third hand smoke. The smoke gets into all fabrics and continuously emits hazardous gases. Just because you cant see them or smell them does not mean they are not there. Google 'hazardous gases in cigarette smoke' sometime and you will get a list of about 100 gases, most of which are poisonous in higher concentrations. That's why a college student died from smoking a carton of cigarettes as a hazing stunt.

 

By the way, if you are elite on Celebrity, I believe you will be Diamond on RCL. Celebrity is our favorite cruise line, but we cruise on every line depending on ships and deals.

[Giorgi-one]

The real joke is that Royal Caribbean wants to attract families. Anyone who exposes their children to second hand smoke should be guilty of endangering the health of a minor. I wonder if someone could sue RCL for that - just a thought. Just read the research on the effects on cigarette smoke on children!